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Sunday, March 24, 2013

We have been home from San Francisco
for nearly a week. A week ago today we were at Alcatraz. (more on that
soon) It's hard to believe that a full week of school has gone by since
spring break. I'm always in marvel of that. This week we have started
the process of learning music for the end of the year and that's another
element that's hard to believe...that's we're a sleigh ride from
summer.

As I have shared in previous blog
posts, I'm completely cheating on all other forms of social media given
my frequent posting through Instagram. My IG feed is posted to the top
right corner of my blog's homepage.

I pulled a few photos from the trip to
share as memorable parts of our trip, the ones perhaps we have reflected
upon the most since coming home to Memphis.

This photo below is probably one of the most beautiful views my eyes have ever seen. This photo does not do it justice, but it serves to spark my memory for how sweet it was to see with my own eyes.This photo was taken in the garden that belongs to Thomas Keller's restaurant, FRENCH LAUNDRY.

Absolute heaven on earth.

Each and every component of this establishment is manicured to a "T" and is so outrageously beautfil, I've now run out of fun words to describe it. Should
you ever want to eat here, you need to save about $500 for 2 people and
make your reservation approximately 2 months in advance.

Another place I'd been dying to see with my own eyes (now this is silly in comparison, Room Service.
I've been eyeing their furniture for a couple of years and soon, well
sometime soon, I'm goign to make a purchase. So...while on the trip we
included this as a stop in our plans. (They only have stores in
California.) Guess what happened when we got there...Go on...Guess!?!?!
They were closed. I felt like I went to Wally-World and the gates were closed. Kind of silly.
They
reopened 2 days later and we went back. Disaster averted. I got to see
some pieces and examine some fabric samples. All is right with the
world once again #firstworldproblems

As
I said, a week ago today, we were at Alcatraz. Traveling all the way
to San Fran and not going was not an option. So, we went. I went with
great hesitation. Here's the big news, IT'S SUPER CREEPY. Newsflash,
it was a prison! (Yes I know you know all of this.) But for these very
reasons, the fact that it is now a national park is a little on the flip
side to me. Weird.

When you go in they give you a headset tour
guide. There are probably 250-500 people at any given time on the
island, so you're not totally alone. The thing that is a big addition
to the ultra creepy-ness is that while all these people are walking
through the cell house, they all have their headphones on listening to
the guided tour. So it's silent. SILENT. Not a peep. Nothing coming
from this large mass of people walking through a prison at a slow, glacial pace. Creepy, right?
Yeah, I thought so too.

Now, once you get outside of the cell block, it's one of the most beautiful places ever. Ironic, right?
Did
you know that people actually lived there...like on purpose? Well, they
weren't random people, the families of the prison guards. But they lived there with their
little children. If my husband had that job, I'd put the big "NO" in
place on that whole living situation. Doesn't matter how pretty it is.

One
of the primary reason for our trip out west, school visits. Not
just any schools, but schools with strong music programs. One of the
schools on our list...the Pacific Boychoir Academy.
And, it was lovely. Ever.Single.Aspect. We spent a good portion of
their Monday music schedule with them including rehearsal time before
school was out, some time with the children after school, dinner, and an
evening rehearsal. One of the pieces the boys were singing during their afternoon rehearsal was the Mozart Requiem. Did somebody read my mind? I just about died. Of all the music to be sung and to get to hear...'twas this. How in the world could it have been such to hear my very most favorite piece of must. What alignment with "the stars"...or something.

This is a wonderfully nurturing environment (as a
school should be) where the students receive the utmost in attention and
respect. It is very obvious to my eyes and mind that hours upon hours of blood - sweat - and tears
have gone into making it a solid learning environment that's full of
encouragement, discipline and love. When the students graduate the 8th
grade from this school it's intuitive for them to stick around, after
all why would you want to leave an environment like this?

If you're in
the bay area, make sure to see if they're performing during your visit. Or better yet, if you're in the bay area...send your son there!

And
then there was the food. We spent a day in Sonoma, Napa, and
Yountville. I've seen many pretty things in this fine country of ours,
but this is actually where heaven on earth is. Seriously. What a
celestial place to spend your time. And the food and drink aren't bad
either.

Should
you be interested in more trip pics...please check out my Instagram
link on the top right corner. Quite seriously, there are approximately
100 photos from our trip. Some call it "overload"...I call it
"documentation".

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Geoffrey and I have returned home from a delightful trip out west. The delight rests in many facets of the experiences we had, some more humorous and enjoyable than others.

If you follow my Instagram feed, with link-age over on the top of the right bar, you have seen what the trip was like. My IG account gets heavily used for many reasons, the primary being as a way to archive and subsequently print photos. I've used a #hashtag for the whole trip as did G so that we could keep the photos together between our two accounts. Our #hashtag was #ghsf2013. Between the two of us we collected many good photos. The goal in this obsecene number of posts through IG is to print a collage through Printstagram. For the past approximately 2 years, this has been the best way to print photos. And then, display them. I've printed many through Printstagram and have really enjoyed having them as a landscape in our "art" collection.

Good experiences in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Sonoma, Napa, and Yountville, California. Thankfully, we did have a car. Which was one of the highest recommendations we received when planning the trip. And as we found, the BART isn't all that and a bag of chips.

We are glad to be home this evening after a full week of travel, and nobody is happier to have us home than our little kitty, Handsome (rather BIG kitty).